Former American Idol & Country Singer Uses Life Experiences to Advise Young Girls
By: Jeff Walker, Entertainment Writer
For more than a decade singer songwriter Lauren Alaina’s music has been an inspiration to a generation of country and pop music fans, young and old, both male and female. Now eleven years removed from her runner-up finish on American Idol, and with three well received albums to her credit, Alaina who is a professed Christian offers up ‘Getting Good at Being You‘, her first ever book geared toward young girls and women trying to stay true to themselves and fulfill God’s purpose in their lives.
Covering 195 pages, ‘Getting Good at Being You’ is an easy read, with Alaina sharing personal stories to support her narrative, adding self-help tips in several of the 12 chapters. While she’s been in the spotlight for nearly half of her 27 years, Alaina draws experiences from her pre-teen years right through her rise to stardom, allowing that her life had not always been idyllic, providing that when you begin to live for God and allow His plan to direct your path, you can achieve anything in life.
The overall theme in her book is ‘Learning to Love Who God Made You to Be’, a message Alaina admits she discovered in her late teens and early 20’s. The opening chapter ‘Road Less Traveled’ named for second album and former number one song (co-written with Meghan Trainor and Jesse Frasure) lays the groundwork for ‘Getting Good at Being You’. Basically, Alaina confesses be true to yourself and don’t follow someone else’s path. A young girl who knows herself and loves herself is un-stoppable. Amen!
Alaina admits she has walked in young women’s shoes, changing her look, her style, and her attitude to chase the boys not right for her. Her chapter on ‘Pretty’ is pretty revealing. While her declaration is not new, Alaina says the pressure to be pretty and to adhere to a higher standard is exhausting, rather challenging teenagers to be bold and honest when they look in the mirror and find beauty within. Alaina’s own realization with her body style led her to bouts of bulimia which nearly cost Alaina her voice.
‘Getting Good at Being You’ is teeming with positive assurances. Alaina is frank and heartfelt in doling out advice. She acknowledges that life is not perfect and oftentimes friends and family will disappoint you, but if you step back and re-assess what they are going through you can find ways to accept and forgive them.
Perhaps the biggest guidance Alaina imparts regards relationships. In matters of the heart, she divulges it’s better to trust your gut than to stay in a situation that will only emotionally drain you. Not every couple is meant to stay together, and no matter how tough it is, there is no shame in ending a relationship. She allows there will be heartbreak, but if you pray, surround yourself with a solid support group, then you will rebound and come out stronger on the other side.
Chapter after chapter Alaina dishes out constructive advice including paying it forward aka helping others, chasing your dreams, loving yourself, being comfortable in your own skin, and most important learning to trust God in good and bad times. Reading the good book, spending time in prayer, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people can often help young women counteract damaging societal norms. Her overall message ‘love yourself for who you are’.
Grammy award winning country superstar Trisha Yearwood pens a heartfelt foreword, describing how God brought the two entertainers together, with Yearwood taking Alaina under her wing, offering the young singer that she was moved after reading an advanced copy of ‘Getting Good at Being You’. Yearwood adds it’s never to late to follow sound advice and reiterates that waiting on God’s plan provides the best journey throughout all stages of life.
‘Getting Good at Being You‘ may be written with young girls in mind, but it offers something for young men, as well as anyone seeking positive re-enforcement in their lives. Lauren Alaina is not trying to cash in on celebrity, rather she is trying her best with heavenly intervention to provide young people a way forward by learning to love who God made you to be. Now that is divine wisdom!
